ENGLISH ORGAN

The old conundrum ‘Which came first the chicken or the egg?’ is answered very clearly: first came the chicken (the organ) and later came the egg (organ music)’.

I’ll come back to this in a moment, but as a corollary to the above, an example can be cited in which the music clearly came first and the organ followed: in the work of ClaudeBénigne Balbastre (1724 –1799) the composer sometimes asks the performer to press down groups of notes to form thunderous effects; only later did organ builders in France provide effet d’orage pedals to cater for this musical development. Were there similar questions to be addressed in relation to the English organ? Our understanding of various aspects of native eighteenth-century performance practice is sketchy. In fact, I have heard foreign organists give a better account of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English music than some British players. Few seemed certain how to execute the ornamentation, what to do with short- or long-octave keyboards, or which stops to use. In nineteenth century organ music, should one use mixtures before or after adding the reeds? The tonal philosophy of the Organ Reform Movement had a significant impact on organ-building, registration styles and performance practice in general, as well as encouraging new music for the instrument.

Some of the technical developments of the Organ Reform inevitably spilled over into performance practice (and viceversa). This radical tonal outlook has considerably sanitised the registration of late Romantic English music.

Hotly debated issues include the use of ‘toes-only’ in the pedalling of so-called Baroque organ music; fingering patterns and the use of thumbs in this repertoire; the permissibility of ‘gapped’ registrations; ‘skeletal’ plenum chorus structures; and the apparent sensitivity and control of mechanical keyactions. Central to teaching was the idea that Bach used strict choruses of principal tone (‘male’ stops), and that flutes (‘female’ registers) were not mixed in ensembles; it was permissible to use an 8ft flute with a 4ft Principal, but not the other way around. The relationship between organ-building and performance practice in relation to some of these matters does not seem to have been explored in any depth. These subjects are often dealt with quite separately as different disciplines, some of which examine organ-building, whilst others are concerned only with performance practice. And yet these are the very topics which shaped the ways in which the organs were used, both historically and during the Organ Revival. Some of these subjects stray into European organ performance practice but have their roots in what was and is taught in England.

Why in 2023 is this project necessary?

We now have almost half-a-century’s worth of detailed study of the English organ, through the Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies, and there have been some notable explorations of keyboard music by Wili Apel (The History of Keyboard Music to 1700 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1967, R/1972)) and John Caldwell (English Keyboard Music before the Nineteenth Century (Oxford: Blackwell, 1973)), but few have attempted to map how the organs relate to the repertoire answering Fock’s question, but in relation to English organ music. The time is right to attempt to draw these two topics together.

What does a typical writing day look like?

I don’t have a typical writing day – at least, not one devoted entirely to my book. Such days have been rare. I am able to get around to writing once the general thrust of the day is over. I need silence to think: no music, no doorbells, no barking dogs.

When does your book come out?

I think we are still some way off publication. There are lots of things to sort out, including obtaining permissions for the use of photographs and the inclusion of musical quotations from scores. I’m hopeful that within two years we will see the book in print.

What advice would you give to a new organist looking at getting to grips with subject-specific Organ literature?

The subject is very wide – and, perhaps as a result, we tend to stick with what we like. There is a distinct interest amongst young players in the music of Romantic French repertoire, but I would encourage a student to learn repertoire from all periods and styles of organ literature and to try to understand the conventions which surround the performance practice of each school. This is not easy to do; in some cases, it requires advanced levels of study. It is sometimes useful to have lessons with a variety of teachers, and I think this is a good thing! Go on some courses and expand your mind!